Ampulex Dementor Zombie: Wasp Turns Cockroaches Into ZOMBIES

Those who have read the books about boy wizard Harry Potter written by J.K. Rowling or watch the eight movies based on them remember Dementors as the soul-sucking guardians of wizard prison Azkaban - and a new wasp species was named after them due to the Ampulex dementor's zombie-turning behavior.

Cockroaches are scary enough as it is without the possibility of the Ampulex dementor's zombie addition, as the newly-discovered wasp, named after the terrifying magical creatures from the "Harry Potter" world, can actually control the "minds" of roaches so they'll do their bidding.

A year ago, Nature World News reported that the Ampulex dementor zombie-turning wasp was actually named through public vote, after the discovery of the species in Southeast Asia of a wasp that basically sucks the life out of cockroaches and then makes them due their bidding - basically just as it happens with the creepy creatures from "Harry Potter."

After taking the species back to Berlin, curators of the city's Natural History Museum let the public vote on what to name it, and so they came up with the name Ampulex dementor for zombie-turning wasp whose modus operandi sounds like something right out of a nightmare.

According to CNN, the Ampulex dementor zombie species was actually discovered about one year ago, but it wasn't until this week when it made headlines all over the world as author J.K. Rowling retweeted a photo of the creepy necromancer insect after the World Wide Fund for Nature (WFF) mentioned Rowling by thanking her for the idea of the name.

This is the way this terrifying zombie-making wasp operates, according to The Washington Post: they inject their venom into their natural prey, namely roaches, in their bellies, and this venom contains a chemical that basically turns the roach into a "passive zombie" that allows to be easily eaten.

The Ampulex dementor zombie turner is one of 139 new species recently discovered - and hopefully there's nothing creepier in that list. - Food World News